Chapter Twelve: The Fall of Shengjing

  "Kill!"

  Scarface let out a low shout, and two cold stars flew out of his palm. The two Jian slaves on the watchtower hadn't even had time to make a sound before they fell straight down, again it was the deadly flying dart, this was still Scarface's ultimate skill when he was a bandit in the northwest. The four hundred family guards following behind Scarface surged in, one after another lighting torches with their fire strikers, setting fires everywhere in the military camp.

  At that time, the Shengjing City, whether it was the imperial palace or civilian houses or military camps, were mostly made of wood structures. Adding to this, the northern climate is originally very dry, and a spark would ignite everything. By the time the sleeping Jianzhou soldiers woke up from their dreams, the entire camp had become a sea of flames. The vast majority of Jianzhou soldiers did not even have time to rush out of the barracks before being swallowed by the big fire. A small number of Jianzhou soldiers who rushed out of the barracks were also killed by the swarming household guards with chaotic knife cuts.

  Poor Zheng Huang and Heng Huang's two flags, more than 800 young men (all under the age of 15), including the sixth son of Huang Taiji, Gao Se, and the seventh son, Chang Shu, were all killed in the chaos. Knife Scar Face saw that Jian Nu's military camp had fallen into a sea of flames, so he divided his troops into two routes, letting a small leader take 200 soldiers to block the west gate of the imperial palace, while he led the remaining soldiers to rush towards the Great Qing Gate.

  Almost at the same time, Big Beard also kicked open the right side of the Jian Nu military camp of the Great Qing Gate, and according to Wang Pu's previous order, he divided his troops into two routes. One route blocked the east gate of the imperial palace, and the other rushed straight to the Great Qing Gate. Knife Scarface and Big Beard joined forces, and without much effort, they broke through the Great Qing Gate, then burned and killed their way along Wende Fang, Wugong Fang, Fengxiang Lou, and Chongzheng Hall.

  Wang Pu was very clear-headed, this surprise attack on Shengjing was not to capture the city and plunder its wealth, but to burn, kill, loot and destroy it from the root! This is to use their own methods to deal with them, to return to this murderous and savage nation the pain and disaster that Jian Nu had once imposed on the people of the Great Ming.

  Of course, this is not the main reason why Wang Xu came to Shengjing.

  Wang Pu did not mind risking his life to sneak into Shengjing, but in fact, he was only after one thing - the Imperial Seal of the Northern Yuan Emperor, which had been taken away by Dorgon and brought back to Liaodong. Wang Pu thought that if he could retrieve the Imperial Seal and present it to Emperor Chongzhen, then perhaps the emperor would pardon him for his defeat at Songshan.

  Everything Wang Pu did was actually just to keep his own head intact.

  In order to keep his own head intact, he had no choice but to grab the jade seal and present it to Emperor Chongzhen, that's how simple things were.

  ■■■

  Yongfu Palace

  Zhuang Fei was awakened by the intense sounds of slaughter, and Fu Lin, who was only four years old (and would later become Emperor Shunzhi), was also awakened and cried loudly. Zhuang Fei held Fu Lin in a state of anxiety when two palace maids rushed in hastily and exclaimed: "Something is wrong with the master! The Ming army has invaded the imperial palace!"

  "Nonsense," Bu Mu Butei retorted calmly, "How could the Ming army possibly come to Shengjing?"

  "It's true." The palace maid said in a panic, "The Ming army has already entered the Chongzheng Hall and will soon arrive at the Yongfu Palace."

  Just then, the killing sounds outside the palace indeed became more intense. Amidst the intense clashing of weapons, there were also women's mournful cries and men's angry shouts. Bu Mu Bu Tai's face changed color, and he said in a deep voice: "Let's go, to Qingning Palace."

  When Bumbutai brought Fulin to the Qingning Palace, several other consorts including Consort Nian of the Linyu Palace and Consort Ba of the Xianqing Palace had already gathered there. Empress Xiaoxian was completely at a loss as to what to do. Seeing Bumbutai's arrival, everyone flocked around her like they had seen a savior, asking in unison: "Consort Zhuang, what can be done? What can be done?"

  "Your Majesty, the Ming troops entered through the Daqing Gate. The imperial guards are fighting to the death in front of us. We can escape from the side gate and once we reach outside the city walls, we will be safe."

  "Alright, alright." Zhe Zhe said repeatedly, "Then we'll go out through the side door."

  "Master, Master is in trouble." Just as Zhe's words fell, a eunuch rushed over and said anxiously, "The west gate, the Ming army has broken in from outside the west gate!"

  Just as one eunuch finished speaking, another eunuch came over and shouted: "Your Majesty, Ming troops have also broken in from the east gate!"

  "Ah?" Zhe Zhe said in dismay, "The main gate and side gate are both guarded by the Ming army, what can we do now?"

  The Empress Dowager remained calm and said, "Since the main gate and side gate are both guarded by Ming soldiers, we can only climb over the wall. You few people, quickly go find a ladder."

  Soon, the eunuchs brought ladders, and not far behind the Qingning Palace was the palace wall. A group of women carrying several children rushed to the palace wall under the escort of the eunuchs and palace maids. When they reached the foot of the wall, the eunuchs set up the ladder, and first helped Zhezhe climb up. Fortunately, Zhezhe was a Mongolian woman and did not have bound feet, so climbing over the wall was not difficult at all.

  He climbed halfway up but then stopped and turned to Bumu Batai, "Yu'er, I left the Imperial Seal in the palace."

  "Your Majesty, don't worry, I'll go get it right away."

  Bu Mu Bu Tai handed over the four-year-old Fu Lin to the palace maid and turned back to Qingning Palace, where she found the national jade seal in Zhe Zhe's bedroom. Unfortunately, as soon as she stepped out of the gate, the Ming army had already killed from three directions, blocking her way.

  ■■■

  Moreover, Zhezhe and others had just climbed over the palace wall when they encountered Zheng Qingwang Jirhalang and his dozens of riders with blue flags. Usually, there would be at least 400 to 500 riders of Jirhalang's blue flag guards staying in the palace, but during the Battle of Songshan, all the Manchu forces were mobilized, leaving only 50 riders of Jirhalang's personal guards by his side.

  Ji'erhalang saw Zhezhe hastily dismount and kneel down, knocking his head on the ground: "Your humble servant arrived late to save Your Majesty, please forgive me, Empress."

  "Quickly dispense with the formalities, Prince Zheng," Zhe hastily said.

  "Your Majesty," Zhirhalang asked, "what is the situation in the palace?"

  Zhe Zhe replied: "The Empress and the Imperial Seal are still inside, Your Highness should go and receive them."

  Ji' Erlang's face changed, and he shouted to the dozens of riders with blue-edged flags behind him: "You, you and a few others, escort the Empress Dowager and several noble consorts out of the city. If there is even half a mistake, you will come to see me with your heads in hand."

  "Ah."

  Dozens of riders with blue flags responded thunderously.

  Zhilan said to Zhezhe: "Your Majesty, I'll go over the wall and meet with Princess Zhuang."

  ■■■

  Qingning Palace

  Over a hundred torches illuminated the empty space in front of the palace, making it as bright as day. More than 400 gleaming steel knives reflected dazzling cold light under the firelight, shining so brightly that people's eyes were dizzy. Especially those Ming soldiers' wolf-like eyes were particularly frightening, and if it were another woman, she would have been scared stiff long ago. But Bao Mu Bao Tai, although pale-faced, could still barely maintain her composure.

  "General, she is Zhuangfei of Huang Taiji, the slave emperor."

  Zhen Youcai, who was following Wang Pu, suddenly shouted like offering a treasure.

  "What did you say?" Wang Pu's heart skipped a beat as he asked, "Empress Zhuang?"

  "Yes." Zhen Youcai replied affirmatively, "It was indeed the Empress Zhuang. I saw her when Emperor Taizong went to Nanjing to worship at the Temple of Heaven and I hid among the crowd of onlookers."

  Wang Pu couldn't help but take a few more glances at Bumu Batai, and only then did he realize that this historically famous woman was indeed very beautiful. At first glance, there was nothing particularly special about her, but upon closer inspection, one could discover what set her apart from others. Moreover, the more you looked, the more pleasing she became. At this time, Bumu Batai was only 28 years old, and three years ago had just given birth to Fulin. Her body had already fully matured, and that kind of plump, mature womanly charm was quite lethal.

  Perhaps it was Wang Pu's fiery gaze that made Bumu Bata feel afraid, she instinctively took a step back and tightened her grip on the package in her arms.

  This time, however, Wang Pu noticed the yellow silk package in Bumu Batu's arms and stretched out his right hand, saying: "What are you holding in your arms? Hand it over."

  Butai's expression suddenly became tense, and he took a step back while holding the yellow silk package.

  Wang Pu gave a signal, and two house slaves pounced on him like tigers and wolves, snatching the yellow silk package from Bumu Butei's arms. Bumu Butei tried to retrieve it but was held down by the two house slaves and couldn't move.

  Wang Pu took over the yellow silk package from his servant's hand, and it felt heavy in his hands.

  Undo the yellow silk, it turned out to be a jade seal, the jade seal is five inches square, with five dragons on the top, and when flipped over, there are eight characters "Shouming Yitian, Jishou Yongchang" engraved in seal script. Wang Pu saw it and was suddenly overjoyed, it was actually the Heirloom Seal of the Realm! This really fulfilled the old saying, "Breaking iron shoes without searching for a place, getting it all without effort", Wang Pu never thought that he would get the Heirloom Seal of the Realm so easily.

  Wang Pu was admiring the Imperial Seal of China when Knife Scar Face arrived with dozens of servants, loudly announcing: "General, I've caught a slave who claims to be King Jian."

  "Oh?"

  Wang Pu turned around and saw a group of servants bringing over a Jian slave, who was wearing a sky-blue dragon robe with a large string of prayer beads hanging from his neck. His identity must be extremely noble. When the Jian slave saw Bumu Butai, he immediately looked down and apologized: "Princess Zhuang, I am incompetent and failed to rescue you from these Southern Ming barbarians."

  Bu Mu Butei let out a soft sigh and fell silent.

  Zhen Youcai leaned in close to Wang Pu and said in a low voice: "General, that guy is Zheng Qinwang Jierhalang of Jian Nu."

  "Zhilahang?" Wang Pu exclaimed with great joy, "Good, now the two remaining ministers of the Qing dynasty have arrived. Bring this guy down and lock him up with Daisan. Tell Xiaoqi to keep a close eye on these two guys and make sure they don't escape."

  "General, we found a slave woman over there who is incredibly beautiful and looks like she should be a noble concubine." Just as they were taking away Jierhalang, another servant came to report, "But it seems like she only has one breath left."

  "Go and take a look." Wang Pu turned his head and saw Bu Mu Butei, then said, "Bring her along too."

  When Wang Pu arrived at Guanju Palace with his men, Hai Lan Zhu was on her last breath.

  Zhen Youcai said in a low voice: "General, she is the most favored Empress of Huang Taiji."

  Zhenfei? Hailanzhu?

  Wang Pu tilted his head and carefully examined the pale-faced woman, indeed a national beauty, especially the charming expression between her eyebrows and eyes, which was even more captivating. No wonder she could bewitch Huang Taiji to the point of being infatuated. Recalling the rumors in unofficial histories that this woman was skilled in Taoist **, especially ** techniques, Wang Pu's heart also skipped a beat.

  Wang Pu turned around and asked Dao Hen's face: "Big Beard, did you capture some imperial physicians alive?"

  "Is that the imperial physician?" Scarface shouted, "I see all these slaves have a small braid on their heads and they all look similar. Who can tell who is the imperial physician? No need to talk, just let my brothers chop down anyone who's still breathing."

  Wang Pu furrowed his brow and said, "Then send someone to Changyong Fortress to invite Mr. Li and his grandson over. This woman is the favored concubine of Slave Emperor Taizong, she can't be allowed to die easily. Tell Mr. Li to spare no expense in saving this woman's life. Now that our entire palace has been taken over by Jian Nu, let him use all the ginseng and tonics he wants."

  Scarface said: "Alright, I'll send someone to Changyong Fortress right away."

  "What about the big beard?"

  Scarface said: "Big Beard took his brothers to slaughter the city outside."

  ……

  PS: I sincerely ask everyone to recommend votes and support. From today on, there will be two updates a day, around 9 am and 6 pm.

  ;